


Father’s Day

by isxbella



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Gen, complete utter fluff, father-sonish, references to henry running away and being in therapy from a young age
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-27
Updated: 2020-06-27
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:00:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24945772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/isxbella/pseuds/isxbella
Summary: Henry made Graham a Father’s Day card.
Relationships: Huntsman | Sheriff Graham & Henry Mills
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	Father’s Day

The day Henry ran away for the tenth time, he was seven years old and it was raining. Graham was driving back to the station after a long day of nothing more exciting than a few parking tickets when Regina phoned him, and as soon as he heard her voice he knew exactly what had happened and why.

It was Father’s Day- a day invented by card companies and dreaded by children who had to swear to behave all day long. But for Henry, it was a reminder that somewhere out there two people of his own flesh and blood had given him up. 

He’d found out that he was adopted on a Father’s Day- running home from school giddy on the idea of a father to carry him on his back and teach him baseball. He had bombarded Regina with questions about who his father was until she snapped and told him that the only thing she knew was that he’d chosen to get rid of Henry. 

It was the first time he’d tried to run away. At five, he had become overrun with fear at the sight of the main road and broken into tears. Two days later, he’d been dragged to Dr. Hopper’s office for the first time and didn’t say a word, just sat in the corner with Pongo. 

Graham had tried to explain that not every couple was ready for a baby on a babysitting duty later, but it it had done was make Regina pull him aside and tell him with a hiss that whatever was going on between the two of them, he wasn’t to get the illusion that he could be anything more than the local Sheriff and occasional babysitter to Henry. 

Graham pulled up the police car next to the play park and climbed out, frowning at the memory. He hasn’t been trying to be fatherly, Henry had needed consoling and... Regina wasn’t doing it. 

“Hey, Graham,” Henry called in a small voice from his castle. Graham smiled at the sound of the boy’s voice, and sat next to him. One of these days he was going to make the play area collapse, but Henry liked it when they sat there together. 

Henry shivered, and Graham remembered just how cold and rainy it was. Without thinking, he removed his Sheriff's jacket and slung it on the boy’s shoulders.

Henry smiled, and rustled for something in his rucksack. “I made you something in class.”

Graham took it, and squinted at it in the semi-dark before realising it was a card. 

“We were making them in class today, and Ms. Blanchard asked if I had anyone special to me that I could wish a happy Father’s Day,” Henry explained as Graham opened it to read a message scrawled in felt tip. 

Graham smiled. “Thank you, Henry. I’m afraid I didn’t make you anything.”

Henry shrugged. “That’s okay, you can do it next year. We’ll take turns.”

Graham smiled at the boy through the raindrops, closing the card and producing a small cloud of glitter. 

Henry’s expression darkened slightly. “But you can’t tell Mom, okay?”

He gripped Graham’s free hand until the man nodded in agreement and he relaxed. 

“Speaking of your Mom, why don’t we go back to your house now? She’s probably making dinner.”

Henry looked thoughtful. “Can you stay for dinner?”

Graham wanted to say he could more than anything, but he knew Regina wouldn’t allow it so fabricated a lie about some reports to write at the station.

“I’m not going back then,” Henry decided. “And you can’t make me.”

Graham sighed. “Maybe I could stay for a drink.”

Henry was about to refuse, then shivered and reconsidered. “I think we have teabags.”

Graham- who hated tea- smiled. “Sounds lovely, Henry.” 

“You do like your card, don’t you?” he asked as he jumped carelessly from the castle. The Sheriff rushed to help him up from the mud below, instantly relieved to see he hadn’t cut himself. 

“Of course, Henry. I loved it.”

“Good,” he beamed, running towards the police car cheerfully with Graham in his wake. 


End file.
